Trends
On stage, I often recap recent activities and the trends that the news reveals. To present a concise, valuable assessment of activities in additive manufacturing (AM) requires many days of research.
This deep dive into AM news is something that you are unlikely to do. Instead, you are more likely to scrape the news of the past week for items that address your needs. This mode of operation is only natural when there is so much activity and so much news to absorb.
A recent seminar prompted me to pour over six months of news to update my ‘what's new' lists. The work was exhausting yet exhilarating. It was tedious yet informative. Digesting six months of news took me seven hours, and all I did was read headlines and scan the story to see if it fitted the professional AM market. Even with an entire day dedicated to the research, there was no time for investigation and thoughtful analysis.
Doing this research in one sitting does tend to reveal and reinforce ongoing trends. I am pleased to report that nearly all of the trends are positive for AM users. The beneficial trends spanned all aspects of the AM landscape. Companies are attacking the weaknesses in the AM value proposition to ease adoption, improve stability, increase productivity and expand viability. How? They are addressing time, cost, quality, predictability and capability.
THE TRENDS
Although there is much less hype than in previous years, some companies continue to spout "revolution" and "transformation" to gain attention. Fortunately, the bulk of the announcements were both practical and pragmatic, providing insights into advancements and breakthroughs to make adoption easier and expand the range of applications.
Hardware: Expansion in all directions—something for everyone.Solutions in metal AM and from China continue rampant growth. 2) Never-before-considered technologies (early research) accompanied by incremental advancement (existing technologies). 3) Emerging trend of addressing OEE (overall equipment effectiveness), the gold standard for measuring manufacturing productivity. 4) Competition yielding downward pricing pressures accompanied by alternatives that provide a low-cost, entry-level solution.
Software: Leveraging algorithms to tame AM.
- Process knowledge is embedded into software to make AM more predictable and easier to use.
- Generative design tools emerge to counter design for AM knowledge gap.
- Direct from CAD (no STL) protects data integrity and expedites workflow.
- Data-to-delivery workflow management aids multi-machine and multi-location operations.
- Creative IP protection strategies leverage AM capabilities.
Materials: Increasing alternatives for properties and sources.
- Expanding the range of metals, plastics, ceramics and other materials to meet application needs.
- New players continue to enter the AM materials market.
- Third-party (open platform) materials dominate the conversations.
- Downward pricing pressures from competition and the push into manufacturing leading to price reductions and lower-cost raw materials.
Process: Taking control and automating end-to-end.
- The push into process monitoring and control continues.
- Automated post-processing alternatives increase.
- "Continuous" becomes an operative word, used for technologies that avoid any layer-to-layer delay and those that combine multiple operations within the AM machine.
Applications: Attacking production, often with targeted solutions.
- The march towards manufacturing (series production) continues.
- Increasing number of purpose-built machines and technology to address a specific niche, industry or application.
Business: More players, bigger operations with collaboration at the heart
- Partnerships and collaborations dominate; companies recognise that AM is not an individual sport.
- Big names (huge, global corporations) continue to enter our burgeoning industry.
- Significant investments to expand operations for increased capacity and global reach.
- Acquisitions continue, namely for needed technology/solutions and getting voice of the customer directly.
The last trend is the widening of the skills gap. Our industry lacks the quantity of trained AM professionals needed to tackle the moderately or highly demanding applications and technologies. For individuals with these skills, this means higher pay. For the companies that need the skills, this means a struggle to find, train and retain the AM professionals needed to make the AM operation run. Progress, advancement, and growth: that is the AM industry in a nutshell. The trends show that these are exciting times with opportunity around every corner. With no sign of abatement, all indicators lead to one conclusion; more opportunities will arise.
